St Thomas's Hospital Medical School in London was one of the oldest and most prestigious medical schools in the UK. The school was absorbed to form part of King's College London. History It was part of one of the oldest hospitals in London, St Thomas' Hospital established in 1173 but whose roots can be traced to the establishment of St Mary Overie Priory in 1106. According to historical records St Thomas's Hospital Medical School was founded in about 1550. It was admitted as a school of the University of London in 1900 but remained a constituent part of St Thomas' Hospital until 1948 when it formally became part of the university. In 1982 it merged with the medical school at Guy's Hospital to form the United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals. In turn UMDS was absorbed by King's College London School of Medicine and Dentistry, but the dentists have since been split out into The Dental Institute. Name Unlike the hospital which in recent times dropped the possessive "s", the medical school continued with the original spelling. Departments Department of Community Medicine Notable people Notable former members of staff Thomas Wharton (1614-1673) - anatomist best known for his descriptions of the submandibular duct William Cheselden (1688-1752) - surgeon and specialist in the removal of bladder stones Astley Cooper (1768-1841) - surgeon and anatomist Thomas Wakley (1795-1862) - surgeon and social reformer Beulah Bewley (1929-2018) - campaigner for women's opportunities in medicine Karen Dunnell (b. 1946) - UK National Statistician Doug Altman (1948-2018) - statistician Edward Headlam Greenhow (1814-1888) - first lecturer appointed at St Thomas's Herbert Barrie, neonatologist Notable alumni Takaki Kanehiro (1849 - 1920) - Japanese naval doctor, first person to discover the link between beriberi and diet. Charles Scott Sherrington (1857 - 1952) - Nobel Prize for Physiology for work on functions of neurons Havelock Ellis (1859 - 1939) - Physician, sexual psychologist and social reformer. Oguntola Sapara (1861 - 1935) - Medical doctor and activist. Known for Smallpox eradication in Nigeria. W. Somerset Maugham (1874 - 1965) - Playwright, novelist, short story writer. Eric Anson (1892 - 1969) - New Zealand's first specialist anaesthetist. Max Theiler (1899 – 1972) - Virologist, awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1951 for developing a vaccine for yellow fever Harold Ridley (1906 - 2001) - ophthalmologist who invented intraocular lens John B. Harman